The primal fear effect

A total solar eclipse is when the moon passes between the sun and earth, and blocks all or part of the sun for up to about three hours from a given location.

Today, a total solar eclipse is an astronomical rarity, an event to be recorded and studied. That was not always the case. It wasn’t all that long ago (in the grand scheme of things) that the sun and sky going dark caused mass hysteria. Which is not a totally irrational response. It triggers a primal fear, because we depend on the sun’s energy for life. Without it, our world would be uninhabitable.

It’s no surprise that a total solar eclipse continues to have a strong effect on us even now, as is evident in fiction: books, film, and television. Stories that resonate most deeply with the human psyche are primal, and survival is about as primal as it gets.

Fictional total eclipses

The earliest known fictional solar eclipse is in Homer‘s Odyssey, which scholars believe was composed near the end of the 8th century BC. There’s probably lesser known fictional references to solar eclipses between the 8th century BC and 1608, when Shakespeare’s tragic play, King Lear was first published, but let’s jump to King Lear’s famous quote:

O insupportable! O heavy hour! / Methinks it should be now a huge eclipse / Of sun and moon; and that the affrighted globe / Should yawn at alteration…

Following Shakespeare, the better known fictional works that feature solar eclipses were published in the late 19th century:

You might think that the paranormal intrigue surrounding a total solar eclipse would wane as we entered the 20th century, but no. In fiction, film, and television, it increased. The following are just a few of the works by the more prominent authors:

The list of film and television shows that include solar eclipses in their story is more extensive than in books. For a complete list of title for both fiction, film, and television, go here.

1984 eclipse in Witness

It’s interesting that while filming Witness (1985) in Pennsylvania’s Amish region, a partial solar eclipse occurred on May 30, 1984 (at his location). Director Peter Weir filmed the actors in costume, responding to the eclipse. However, these scenes never made it into the publicly released version of the film.

August 21, 2017 ~ total solar eclipse

August 21, 2017 will be the first total solar eclipse that can be seen in the United States in 38 years, the last one being in 1979. For the 2017 solar eclipse, the longest period the moon completely blocks the sun—from any given location along the path—will be about two minutes and 40 seconds.

If you’re interested in following the solar eclipse as it happens, even if you won’t be in the direct viewing path, check out the Smithsonian Solar Eclipse app from the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO). The app allows you to watch a live NASA stream of the eclipse as it travels across the continental United States. You can calculate your view with their interactive eclipse map, and get a virtual view in our eclipse simulator. Super cool!

There’s a glorious full moon tonight … a marvelous night for a moonwalk. No, not on the surface of the moon … the dance move Michael Jackson made famous in 1983.

For anyone who’s too young to remember Michael Jackson, or is just unfamiliar with the illusive dance technique, the moonwalk — when done well — creates the illusion of the dancer sliding backwards while attempting to walk forward.

But just like the moon in tonight’s sky, the moonwalk was around long before Michael Jackson…

Who invented the Moonwalk?

Proof-positive recordings only go as far back as recording technology. I, however, wouldn’t be surprised if the moonwalk originated centuries before the first film recording. Anyway…

Here’s what we know for sure:

Cab Calloway, the famous jazz singer and bandleader, was recorded moonwalking back as 1932. Calloway is noted to have said that back in the 1930s, the dance move was called “The Buzz”.

Americans weren’t the only ones to incorporate the enigmatic dance move into their routines. The famous French mime, Marcel Marceau, used the moonwalk throughout his career, starting in the 1940s. In Marceau’s famous “Walking Against the Wind” routine, he moonwalked as he pretended to be pushed backwards by a gust of wind, as he tried to walk forward.

There were more contemporary performers, such as David Bowie, who performed the moonwalk before Michael Jackson busted the move on MTV in 1983. Still, there’s no question that Michael Jackson was the one who made the moonwalk famous for our generation, and a few more to come.

Michael Jackson Moonwalk: In Slow-Mo (MTV)

Pretty awesome. The first time I saw that move I thought, “I want to learn how do that!” And now, with the help of YouTube, we CAN!

Today’s a Blue Moon … Or is it?

I thought there was only one kind of Blue Moon … the second moon in the rare month with two full moons. Like this month. The first full moon was on August 1, the second s TODAY, August 31, 2012.

Boy, was I ever wrong. In researching this post, I learned that there’s a an older, and very different, definition of a Blue Moon. Not only that, there’s a raging controversy over which Blue Moon is the real deal. Seriously.

The older definition of a Blue Moon comes from The Old Farmer’s Almanac (of the 19th and early 20th centuries), which listed the full moons in each quarter of the year, usually three per season. When an extra (fourth) full moon occurred in a season, the third full moon was called a Blue Moon. The next Blue Moon by this “seasonal” definition won’t happen until August 21, 2013.

The “calendar” definition of a Blue Moon (like today’s) came about by accident, when James Hugh Pruett misinterpreted the 1937 Maine Farmers’ Almanac in his March 1946 Sky and Telescope article “Once in a Blue Moon”, saying:

Seven times in 19 years there were — and still are — 13 full moons in a year. This gives 11 months with one full moon each and one with two. This second in a month, so I interpret it, was called Blue Moon.

Who knew?

Is Older Better?

As you can imagine, there’s a huge controversy over which Blue Moon definition is “true”. Some think that the older “seasonal” definition is the real Blue Moon, because it relates to the earth’s orbit around the sun. Others side with the newer “calendar” definition.

Personally, I think arguing over which definition is better is just silly. We should just give the rarer “seasonal” Blue Moon a different name, maybe something like … a True Blue Moon … after the a colloquial expression used long before the “seasonal” and “calendar” Blue Moon definitions even existed.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first reference to a blue moon comes from a proverb recorded in 1528:

If they say the moon is blue,
We must believe that it is true.

Which Blue Moon camp are you in?

Are you a purist, a true Seasonal Blue Mooner?

Do you roll with the modern day Calendar Blue Mooners?

…OR…

Are you with me in thinking outside the solar system, giving one of them a new name?